The story
In 1922, husband and wife medical doctors, Charles Roy and Anna A. (Lindstadt) Darrow with two children, Richard and Dorothy came to Stuart from Fort Pierce. Each had practiced medicine in Chicago, Illinois, but by 1910 had moved to Jacksonville and five years later to Fort Pierce, where the couple were physicians who would also eventually own Park Pharmacy on Parrott Avenue.
With Newnham and Eurit as established doctors in Stuart, the Darrows evidently could not sustain a profitable practice and the family moved to Fort Lauderdale in September 1924. Tragically, Charles Darrow committed suicide Oct. 23, 1926. Anna continued to practice medicine for decades and died in Fort Lauderdale in 1959.
Dr. Julian D. Parker
On John Newnham’s recommendation, a young doctor, Julian D. Parker, had arrived in Stuart from Jacksonville by Model T in July 1924 to look over the small community as a potential location to set up a practice. He was greeted by Donald L. ‘Red’ Williams, pharmacist at Stuart Drug Company. Parker liked the area and soon after the visit married Ola Rhodes, a nurse he had courted at the Jacksonville hospital and the couple moved permanently to Stuart.
Julian D. Parker was born Nov. 23, 1895, in Ludowici, Georgia and graduated from the Hampton Institute and the University of Georgia. He had served in the Army medical corps during the Great War and in 1920, residency at the old Duval County Hospital in Jacksonville. Parker’s Florida medical license was numbered 228! He would remain in Stuart for the rest of his life as one of the town’s most generous, kind and beloved doctors.
Dr. John T. Henderson
Dr. John T. Henderson and wife, Charlotte settled in Stuart about 1925. Henderson, born in 1865 in England, became a registered pharmacist in Ohio in 1887, then graduated from the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College in 1900. He practiced in Cleveland and Detroit, where he specialized in diagnosis, internal medicine and anesthesia. Henderson would be appointed Stuart’s health officer by the end of 1926.
First hospital
At this time, there were four doctors in town, but Stuart actually had no hospital until August 1926, which with a growing population, would be a necessity for the community. A two-story building had been donated on Coconut Avenue for this purpose and needed funds were raised to modify and furnish the facility, St Lucie Sanitarium.
The staff included Doctors Newnham, Henderson and Parker with nurse, Ola and nursing supervisor, Ada Downs. Dr. Parker lived only one block east of the hospital and was on call for emergencies. Newnham and Parker’s offices were located in suites 201 and 202 in the Peacock Arcade, Flagler Avenue, which had opened in May.
John Henderson soon retired, maintaining an office for medical consultation work, but lived in Stuart only a few years before returning to Ohio. He died in Cleveland July 10, 1940 due to injuries sustained in an auto accident.
Dr. J. Stewart Morris
Dr. J. Stewart Morris came to the community in November 1929, specializing in internal medicine, but was not a surgeon. By 1931, Eurit, Newnham and Parker were Stuart’s primary physicians, while Morris, although a resident in town, was not practicing medicine.
Stuart had kept its long reputation of having fairly hearty citizens and in May ’31, Parker stated “… no lung disease, no pneumonia, one of the healthiest places along the east coast.”
In 1932, John Newnham ran for the Florida State Legislature and was so confident of a victory, stated that if he lost the election he would move out of town. As fate would have it, Newnham lost, but true to his word, he and Clyde left Stuart to settle in West Palm Beach, where he practiced medicine for 15 years, specializing in dermatology. John Alfred Newnham died March 19, 1947 in West Palm Beach.
Dr. Julian Parker’s office was located in a small house at the corner of Flagler Avenue and Belle Flora (Colorado) in the early 1930s. Parker’s fees were $3 for an office visit or $5 for a house call. If an individual or family did not have enough money to pay for services he would gladly accept eggs, chickens, fruit or vegetables in payment. Julian D. Parker was the designated physician for the Stuart High School football team, a position he held from 1927 to 1968, but delivery of babies was a specialty for more than 50 years, with more than 4,000 births, including 31 sets of twins. Each was affectionately known as a “Parker Baby” and the good doctor could actually remember the birthday for many.
Van Williams Burns
Van Williams Burns, born in 1902 in Louisiana, came to Stuart with wife, Avis, about 1934. A daughter, Vanette, was born in Stuart in ’35. Once established, Dr. Burns sought more county health clinic services for local citizens, to be at low cost or even free of charge. Drs. Julian Parker and Burns assisted in securing donations for the construction of a new and larger hospital for Stuart and within a few years the 23-bed Martin County Hospital on the St. Lucie River held its grand opening, March 8, 1939; the St. Lucie Sanitarium was permanently closed.
Parker was the chief physician in charge and Burns was made chief of hospital staff. Dec. 23, 1940, the community was shocked by the sudden death of Van Williams Burns, after being hospitalized for 10 days. He was only 38 years old, an outstanding civic worker, past president of Stuart Rotary Club, a member of the Methodist Church and a mason. Soon after the tragic loss of her husband, Avis and daughter Vanette moved to Arkansas, but Avis returned to Martin County years later and married Nally Cromer in 1969.
Walter F. Davey and John P. Higgins
Walter F. Davey, born June 25, 1911 in New Jersey, was a graduate of Rutgers University, Class of 1933 and Temple University School of Medicine in ’37, after which he came to Stuart with wife, Beverly and daughter, Sandra. The Daveys would be the parents of two other children, Suzanne and Walter, Jr. Dr. Davey, a physician with office in town, had also assisted Parker and Burns in getting the hospital facility operational in 1939.
Another doctor, John P. Higgins had arrived in Stuart with wife, Dolores in 1940. In December 1941, the U.S. entered the war, with Parker, Davey and Higgins as the only primary full-time physicians in town; ‘Doc’ Eurit was semi-retired (full retirement by 1945).
Drs. Davey and Higgins, however, were called into military service by ’42, with Julian Parker basically left in charge of Martin County residents’ health needs. Parker’s responsibility also included the care of the families of soldiers stationed at Camp Murphy and the Coast Guard Station in Jensen Beach; he requested state and federal assistance in securing another physician for the county.
By May 1944, Dr. William C. Barr and family from Virginia arrived in Stuart, which offered some relief to Dr. Parker. Higgins’ office in the Hipson building on Osceola Avenue was used by Barr. However, there was simply too much work for Dr. Barr to handle, greatly affecting his health, forcing retirement. When the war ended, the somewhat drastic situation eased.
Dr. Davey had served in the U.S. Army Air Force medical corps, returning to Stuart in 1945. Higgins did not remain in Stuart and by ’45 was assistant to the chief of surgery at East Coast Hospital in St. Augustine.
Other notable doctors
The population of the little town of Stuart continued to grow in the second half of the 20th century as did the number of homes, buildings, businesses and the need for qualified professional people, including doctors and specialists in the field of medicine.
Twenty-eight-year-old Dr. Jimmy Farthing Henry and family came to Stuart in March 1950, as an assistant to Julian D. Parker, whose office at this time was on East 4th Street. Born in Illinois, Henry was a 1944 graduate of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Dr. Henry practiced medicine in Stuart from 1950-’59 and died in Bradford, Florida April 23, 1981.
‘Doc’ Eurit, having lived in Stuart since 1913, died at age 86, in August 1950. Dr. John Gunsolus, born October 5, 1922, opened an office on 4th Street in 1952. He died August 6, 1971. Marshall Evans began general practice in J. D. Parker’s office, 27 East Ocean Blvd., on June 1, 1964.
Parker officially retired in 1985 and died in August ’87. J. D. Parker Elementary School had been named in honor of the doctor in 1961. Dr. Walter Davey retired in 1976 and died August 28, 1987 in Stuart.
In 2013, Martin County can still claim to be a healthy community and has been fortunate in having reliable doctors and medical care through the years when needed.
Alice L. Luckhardt is a freelance historical researcher and writer, member of the Board of Directors for the Stuart Heritage Museum and researcher for the Elliott and House of Refuge. Greg Luckhardt, a native of Stuart and 1967 MCHS grad, is a former science teacher, retired businessman and member of Stuart Heritage Museum. They can be contacted at: gandavignettes@gmail.com
